Annapolis Harbor Paintings, 4th Grade

My fourth graders learn about Maryland history every year.  For this painting, I have my students draw the Annapolis Harbor, which is Maryland's state capital.  These paintings are done with watercolors. If you look closely, you can see the state house in the background.   

Face Pots, 5th Grade

 I have done this lesson several times with my students.  It is always one of my favorite art lessons.  We begin this lesson by creating a coil pot.  Once the coil pot is created, students add details to create a face on their pot.  Some students do an animal face, while others do a human face. 

 Unfortunately, we do not have the time or the money to glaze these pots. I thought about having them use tempera paint on them, but I decided that the clay was pretty enough on its own. 

I just love how each pot is different!

Symmetrical Butterflies, 1st Grade

 This is a very cute simple art lesson.  I started by having my students fold their paper in half, "hot dog style."  Then, students drew half of a butterfly with oil pastel.  Next, students folded their paper so their design was now on the inside, like a sandwich.  Students then rubbed their paper until the design was copied onto the opposite side of their paper.  Once the butterfly was drawn, students used watercolors to paint. 

These are very pretty. 

Music, 3rd Grade

 In science class, the students have been learning about sound, so I thought this would be a great time to create music art.  To introduce this project, we discussed how sound has movement.  We also discussed ways to create movement in art.  For this project, I asked students to draw one large instrument.  After this, students added movement to their drawing by drawing lines, patterns, and shapes. 

Once the drawing was completed, I had the students paint the background.  They could only choose one color.  After the background, I had my students choose a color for their instrument.  For this, I had my students think about warm and cool colors.  If their background was cool, then they had to choose a warm color for their instrument.  If their background was warm, they had to choose a cool color for their instrument.  Once their instrument was painted, students worked on painting the other details in their picture.  Lastly, students used black paint to outline.  

I just love these!  They are so fun and colorful. 

Best Gift EVER!

Anyone who is an art teacher knows how wonderful wet wipes are.  Students can clean their hands and tables without ever having to use the sink.  Really, they are the best invention EVER!  Wipes make my life so much easier that I often end up using my own money to purchase them.

Well, Today, I got the best surprise in the mail.  I received three whole boxes of wet wipes in the mail, with my name one it!  At first, I thought they had been delivered to the wrong person, because I hadn't ordered them.  However, when I looked closely at the box, it said, A Gift From Wet Ones Hand Wipes- A Proud Supporter of TeacherLists.com.  It's funny because I signed up for TeacherLists.com several years ago, and had completely forgotten about it.  Anyway, this was a wonderful surprise, and I have to give a HUGE shout out to WET ONES, for being nice enough to send me wipes.